The 777 Greatest Novels
The Greatest Novels of All Time is based on the same research that yielded the The Greatest Literature of All Time, although it includes much more than the novels on that list.
This list is for long works of fiction, generally of more than 40,000 words. Shorter fictional works can be found on the separate Greatest Novellas and Greatest Stories lists.
See also:
Critics disagree over what has constituted a novel, particularly in pre-modern times. For this and other Greatest lists the term "novel" is applied liberally—to include those early works that might otherwise be considered "prose narratives" or "romances". (If you're interested only in the modern idea of novels, skip down in this list to the early 1600s and continue forward from there.)
Also note, only novels that stand on their individual merits are included here. Novel series, such as trilogies, are not included as such, although deserving single books within those series may be.
The list is continually updated and revised as new great novels are discovered and assessments of older works evolve.
Latest update: March 24, 2024
c.50 CE
Callirhoe
Chariton,
Greece, novel
c.60–70
Satyricon
Arbiter Petronius,
Rome, novel
c.150
Daphne and Chloe
Longus,
Greece, novel
The Golden Ass
Lucius Apuleius,
Humidia, novel
c.1020
The Tale of Genji
Japan, novel
c.1200
The Prose Edda
Snorri Sturlson,
Iceland, novel
c.1220
The Tale of the Heike
Anonymous,
Japan, novel
c.1360–1400
Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Luo Guanzhong,
China, novel
c.1360–1589
Water Margin
Shi Nai'an, Luo Guanzhong,
China, novel
1485
Le Morte d'Arthur
Thomas Malory,
England, novel
1499
La Celestina
Fernando de Rojas,
Spain, novel
1532
Pantagruel
Francois Rabelais,
France, novel
1534
Gargantua
Francois Rabelais,
France, novel
1580–1581
Arcadia
Philip Sidney,
England, novel
c.1590
The Golden Lotus
Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng,
China, novel
1592
Journey to the West
Wu Cheng'en,
China, novel
1594
The Unfortunate Traveller
Thomas Nashe,
England, novel
1605
Investiture of the Gods
Xu Zhonglin,
China, novel
1605–1615
Don Quixote
Spain, novel
1688
Simplicius Simplicissimus
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen,
Germany, novel
1678
The Pilgrim's Progress
John Bunyan,
England, novel
1719–1720
Love in Excess
Eliza Haywood,
England, novel
1722
Moll Flanders
Daniel Defoe,
England, novel
1726
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift,
Ireland, novel
1731
Manon Lescant
Antoine François Prévost,
France, novel
1740
Pamela
Samuel Richardson,
England, novel
1742
Joseph Andrews
Henry Fielding,
England, novel
1748
Clarissa
Samuel Richardson,
England, novel
1749
Tom Jones
Henry Fielding,
England, novel
1750
The Scholars
Wu Jingzi ,
China, novel
1751
The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle
Tobias Smollett,
England, novel
1752
The Female Quixote
Charlotte Lennox
Scotland, novel
1761
Julie; or, The New Heloise
Jean Jacques Rousseau,
England, novel
1771
Humphrey Clinker
Tobias Smollett,
England, novel
1778
Evelina
Fanny Burney,
England, novel
1782
Dangerous Liaisons
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos,
France, novel
1785
120 Days of Sodom
Marquis de Sade,
France, novel
1791
Justine
Marquis de Sade,
France, novel
1791–1792
The Dream of the Red Chamber
Cao Zhan,
China, novel
1792
The Nun
Denis Diderot,
France, novel
1794
The Mysteries of Udolpho
Ann Radcliffe,
England, novel
1795–1796
William Meister's Apprenticeship
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Germany, novel
1796
Camilla
Fanny Burney,
England, novel
The Monk
Matthew Lewis,
England, novel
Jacques the Fatalist and His Master
Denis Diderot,
France, novel
1797–1799
Hyperion
Friedrich Holderlin,
Germany, novel
1807
Corinne
Germaine de Staël,
France, novel
1809
Elective Affinities
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,
Germany, novel
1811
Sense and Sensibility
England, novel
1812
Swiss Family Robinson
Johann David Wyss,
Switzer., novel
1813
Pride and Prejudice
England, novel
Waverley
Walter Scott,
Scotland, novel
1816
Adolphe
Benjamin Constant,
Switzerland, novel
Rob Roy
Walter Scott,
Scotland, novel
1818
Frankenstein
England, novel
1819
Ivanhoe
Walter Scott,
Scotland, novel
1819–1821
The Life and Opinions of Tomcat Murr
E.T.A. Hoffmann,
Germany, novel
1820
Melmoth the Wanderer
Charles Maturin,
Ireland, novel
1826
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper,
United States, novel
1827
Flowers in a Mirror
Li Ruzhen,
China, novel
1827–1842
The Betrothed
Alessandro Manzoni,
Italy, novel
1831
The Red and the Black
Stendhal,
France, novel
1833
Eugénie Grandet
Honoré de Balzac,
France, novel
1834
Old Goriot
Honore de Balzac,
France, novel
1836
The Captain's Daughter
Alexander Pushkin,
Russia, novel
1837–1843
Lost Illusions
Honoré de Balzac,
France, novel
The Charterhouse of Parma
Stendhal,
France, novel
1840
A Hero of Our Time
Mikhail Lermontov,
Russia, novel
1841
The Deerslayer
James Fenimore Cooper,
United States, novel
1842
Dead Souls
Nikolai Gogol,
Ukraine, novel
1843–1847
A Harlot High and Low
Honoré de Balzac,
France, novel
1844
The Luck of Barry Lyndon
William Makepeace Thackeray,
England, novel
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas,
France, novel
1844–1846
The Count of Monte-Cristo
Alexandre Dumas,
France, novel
1846
Cousin Bette
Honoré de Balzac,
France, novel
The Devil's Pool
George Sand,
France, novel
1847
Jane Eyre
England, novel
Wuthering Heights
England, novel
1848
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Anne Brontë,
England, novel
Vanity Fair
William Makepeace Thackeray,
England, novel
1850
David Copperfield
England, novel
1851
Moby Dick
Herman Melville,
United States, novel
The House of Seven Gables
Nathaniel Hawthorne,
United States, novel
1852
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Harriet Beecher Stowe,
United States, novel
Cranford
Elizabeth Gaskell,
England, novel
1855
North and South
Elizabeth Gaskell,
England, novel
The Warden
Anthony Trollope,
England, novel
Barchester Towers
Anthony Trollope,
England, novel
The Virginians
William Makepeace Thackeray,
England, novel
Oblomov
Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov,
Russia, novel
Home of the Gentry
Ivan Turgenev,
Russia, novel
Max Havelaar
Multatuli,
Holland, novel
Fathers and Sons
Ivan Turgenev,
Russia, novel
1864
A Journey to the Centre of the Earth
Jules Verne,
France, novel
1866
Crime and Punishment
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Russia, novel
1869
Lorna Doone
Richard Blackmore,
England, novel
Phineas Finn
Anthony Trollope,
England, novel
A Sentimental Education
Gustave Flaubert,
France, novel
1870
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne,
France, novel
The Possessed
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Russia, novel
1873
Around the World in Eighty Days
Jules Verne,
France, novel
The Idiot
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Russia, novel
Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy,
Russia, novel
1875
The Way We Live Now
Anthony Trollope,
England, novel
1876
Daniel Deronda
George Eliot,
England, novel
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Mark Twain,
United States, novel
1877
Black Beauty
Anna Sewell,
England, novel
The Drunkard
Émile Zola,
France, novel
1879
The Red Room
August Strindberg,
Sweden, novel
1880
Nana
Émile Zola,
France, novel
The Brothers Karamazov
Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Russia, novel
Ben-Hur
Lew Wallace,
United States, novel
1881
The Posthumous Memoirs of Bras Cuba
Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis,
Brazil, novel
Bouvard and Pécuchet
Gustave Flaubert,
France, novel
The House by the Medlar Tree
Giovanni Verga,
Italy, novel
The Portrait of a Lady
Henry James,
United States, novel
1883
A Woman's Life
Guy de Maupassant,
France, novel
Treasure Island
Scotland, novel
1884
Against Nature
Joris-Karl Huysmans,
France, novel
1884
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Mark Twain,
United States, novel
1885
King Solomon's Mines
H. Rider Haggard,
England, novel
Marius the Epicurean
Walter Pater,
England, novel
Bel Ami
Guy de Maupassant,
France, novel
Germinal
Émile Zola,
France, novel
Compassion
Benito Pérez Galdós,
Spain, novel
She
H. Rider Haggard,
England, novel
1888
The Maias
José Maria Eça de Queirós,
Japan, novel
1889
Three Men in a Boat
Jerome K. Jerome,
England, novel
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
Mark Twain,
United States, novel
The Beast Within
Émile Zola,
France, novel
News from Nowhere
William Morris,
England, novel
1892
The Diary of a Nobody
George and Weedon Grossmith,
England, novel
1893
The Adventures of Pinocchio
Carlo Collodi,
Italy, novel
1895
Effi Briest
Theodor Fontane,
Germany, novel
The Red Badge of Courage
United States, novel
The Bostonians
Henry James,
England, novel
The Island of Doctor Moreau
H.G. Wells,
England, novel
1897
Captains Courageous
Rudyard Kipling,
England, novel
The Invisible Man
H.G. Wells,
England, novel
Pharaoh
Boleslaw Prus,
Poland, novel
1898
The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells,
England, novel
The Stechlin
Theodor Fontane,
Germany, novel
1899
Hunger
Knut Hamsun,
Norway, novel
The Awakening
Kate Chopin,
United States, novel
Sister Carrie
Theodore Dreiser,
United States, novel
1901
My Brilliant Career
Miles Franklin,
Australia, novel
Resurrection
Leo Tolstoy,
Russia, novel
1902
Rebellion in the Backlands
Euclides da Cunha,
Brazil, nonfiction novel
The Wings of the Dove
Henry James,
United States, novel
1905–1928
A Flower in a Sinful Sea
Jin Tianhe, Zeng Pu,
China, novel
The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers,
England, novel
The Ambassadors
Henry James,
United States, novel
The Golden Bowl
Henry James,
United States, novel
1905
Professor Unrat
Heinrich Mann,
Germany, novel
The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton,
United States, novel
1906
The Confusions of Young Törless
Robert Musil,
England, Austria
The Jungle
Upton Sinclair,
United States, novel
1907
The Travels of Lao Can
Liu E,
China, novel
Mother
Maxim Gorky,
Russia, novel
1908
Anne of Green Gables
L.M. Montgomery,
Canada, novel
The Old Wives' Tale
Arnold Bennett,
England, novel
A Room With a View
E.M. Forster,
England, novel
The Wind in the Willows
Kenneth Grahame,
England, novel
1910
Howards End
E.M. Forster,
England, novel
1912
Zuleika Dobson
Max Beerbohm,
England, novel
1913
Sons and Lovers
D.H. Lawrence,
England, novel
Le Grand Meaulnes
Alain-Fournier,
France, novel
Petersburg
Andrei Bely,
Russia, novel
1913–1927
In Search of Lost Time
Marcel Proust,
France, novel
seven volumes, including Swann's Way, In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower, The Guermantes Way, Time Regained
1914
Locus Solus
Raymond Rousel,
CFrance, novel
The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropist
Robert Tressell,
Ireland, novel
Kokoro
Sōseki Natsume,
Japan, novel
Tarzan of the Apes
Edgar Rice Burroughs,
United States, novel
1915
The Rainbow
D.H. Lawrence,
England, novel
The Good Soldier
Ford Maddox Ford,
England, novel
Of Human Bondage
W. Somerset Maughham,
England, novel
1916
The Home and the World
Rabindranath Tagore,
Bengal, novel
The Underdogs
Mariano Azuela,
Mexico, novel
1917
The Charwoman's Daughter
James Stephens,
Ireland, novel
1920
The Wreath
Sigrid Unset,
Norway, novel
1920–1923
The Good Soldier Schweik
Jaroslav Hasek,
Czechia, novel
1921
Women in Love
D.H. Lawrence,
England, novel
The Age of Innocence
Edith Wharton,
United States, novel
The Worm Ouroboros
E.R. Eddison,
England, novel
Babbitt
Sinclair Lewis,
United States, novel
1923
The Confessions of Zeno
Italo Svevo,
Italy, novel
Chapayev
Dmitry Furmanov,
Russia, novel
A Passage to India
E.M. Forster,
England, novel
We
Yevgeny Zamyatin,
Russia, novel
1925
The Trial
Franz Kafka,
Czech., novel
Parade's End
Ford Maddox Ford,
England, novel
The Counterfeiters
André Gide,
France, novel
An American Tragedy
Theodore Dreiser,
United States, novel
1926
The Castle
Franz Kafka,
Czechia, novel
Under Satan's Sun
Georges Bernanos,
France, novel
Envy
Yuri Olesha,
Russia, novel
Steppenwolf
Herman Hesse,
Switzerland, novel
1928
Lady Chatterley's Lover
D.H. Lawrence,
England, novel
Orlando
Virginia Woolf,
England, novel
Nadja
André Breton,
France, novel
And Quiet Flows the Don
Mikhail Sholokov,
Russia, novel
Quicksand
Nella Larsen,
United States, novel
1929
A High Wind in Jamaica
Richard Hughes,
England, novel
The Holy Terrors
Jean Cocteau,
France, novel
Berlin Alexanderplatz
Alfred Döblin,
Germany, novel
The Time of Indifference
Alberto Moravia,
Italy, novel
Some Prefer Nettles
Jun'ichiro Tanizaki,
Japan, novel
The Sound and the Fury
William Faulkner,
United States, novel
A Farewell to Arms
United States, novel
Look Homeward, Angel
Thomas Wolfe,
United States, novel
1930
The Foundation Pit
Andrey Platonov,
Russia, novel
The 42nd Parallel
John Dos Passos,
United States, novel
As I Lay Dying
William Faulkner,
United States, novel
1930–1943
The Man Without Qualities
Robert Musil,
Austria, novel
At the Mountains of Madness
H.P. Lovecraft,
United States, novel
Journey to the End of the Night
Louis-Ferdinand Céline,
France, novel
Viper's Tangle
Francois Mauriac,
France, novel
Tobacco Road
Erskine Caldwell,
United States, novel
Light in August
William Faulkner,
United States, novel
1933
Man's Fate
André Malraux,
France, novel
The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
Gertrude Stein,
United States, novel
1934
Murder on the Orient Express
England, novel
The Nine Tailors
Dorothy L. Sayers,
England, novel
A Handful of Dust
Evelyn Waugh,
England, novel
How the Steel Was Tempered
Nikolai Ostrovsky,
Ukraine, novel
Tropic of Cancer
Henry Miller,
United States, novel
1934–1935
Independent People
Halldór Laxness,
Iceland, novel
1935
The Tower of Babels
Elias Canetti,
Belgium, novel
Untouchable
Mulk Raj Anand,
India, novel
Call It Sleep
Henry Roth,
United States, novel
Invitation to a Beheading
Vladimir Nabokov,
Russia, novel
Nightwood
Djuna Barnes,
United States, novel
Absalom, Absalom!
William Faulkner,
United States, novel
Gone with the Wind
Margaret Mitchell,
United States, novel
1937
Rickshaw Boy
Lao She,
China, novel
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien,
England, novel
The Blind Owl
Sadegh Hedayat,
Iran, novel
Their Eyes Were Watching God
Zora Neale Hurston,
United States, novel
1938
Rebecca
Daphne du Maurier,
England, novel
Brighton Rock
Graham Greene,
England, novel
Scoop
Evelyn Waugh,
England, novel
The Code of the Woosters
P.G. Wodehouse,
England, novel
Nausea
Jean-Paul Sartre,
France, novel
The Death of the Heart
Elizabeth Bowen,
Ireland, novel
1939
The Mask of Dimitrios
Eric Ambler,
England, novel
At Swim-Two-Birds
Flann O'Brien,
Ireland, novel
The Day of the Locust
Nathanael West,
United States, novel
The Grapes of Wrath
United States, novel
The Big Sleep
United States, novel
1940
The Invention of Morel
Adolfo Bioy Casares,
Argentina, novel
The Man Who Loved Children
Christina Stead,
Australia, novel
The Power and the Glory
Graham Greene,
England, novel
The Tartar Steppe
Dino Buzzati,
Italy, novel
For Whom the Bell Tolls
United States, novel
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Carson McCullers,
United States, novel
Native Son
Richard Wright,
United States, novel
1943
The Fountainhead
Ayn Rand,
United States, novel
1944
The Horse's Mouth
Joyce Cary,
England, novel
Aurélien
Louis Aragon,
France, novel
Our Lady of the Flowers
Jean Genet,
France, novel
The Makioka Sisters
Jun'ichirō Tanizaki,
Japan, novel
1945
The Tin Flute
Gabrielle Roy,
Canada, novel
Loving
Henry Green,
England, novel
The Glass Bead Game
Herman Hesse,
Switzerland, novel
1946
Titus Groan
Mervyn Peake,
England, novel
Zorba the Greek
Nikos Kazantzakis,
Greece, novel
All the King's Men
Robert Penn Warren,
United States, novel
The Bridge on the Drina
Ivo Andrić,
Yugoslavia, novel
1947
A Case to Answer
Edgar Lustgarten,
England, novel
Under the Volcano
Malcolm Lowry,
England, novel
Froth on the Daydream
Boris Vian,
France, novel
Doctor Faustus
Thomas Mann,
Germany, novel
All About H. Hatterr
G.V. Desani,
England, novel
Snow Country
Yasunari Kawabata,
Japan, novel
The Franchise Affair
Josephine Tey,
Scotland, novel
Cry, the Beloved Country
Alan Paton,
South Africa, novel
1949
The Kingdom of This World
Alejo Carpentier,
Cuba, novel
The Emigrants
Vilhelm Moberg,
Sweden, novel
Confessions of a Mask
Yukio Mishima,
Japan, novel
The Man With the Golden Arm
Nelson Algren,
United States, novel
The Sheltering Sky
Paul Bowles,
United States, novel
The Moon and the Bonfires
Cesare Pavese,
Italy, novel
Barrabas
Pär Lagerkvist,
Sweden, novel
Strangers on a Train
Patricia Highsmith,
United States, novel
1951
Memoirs of Hadrian
Marguerite Yourcenar,
Belgium, novel
The End of the Affair
Graham Greene,
England, novel
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham,
England, novel
The Opposing Shore
Julien Gracq,
France, novel
Samuel Beckett
Molloy,
Ireland, novel
The Daughter of Time
Josephine Tey,
Scotland, novel
From Here to Eternity
James Jones,
United States, novel
1952
Thousand Cranes
Yasunari Kawabata,
Japan, novel
The Palm-Wine Drunkard
Amos Tutuola,
Nigeria, novel
Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison,
United States, novel
Wise Blood
Flannery O'Connor,
United States, novel
Charlotte's Web
E.B. White,
United States, novel
1953
Childhood's End
Arthur C. Clarke,
England, novel
The Go-Between
L.P. Hartley,
England, novel
The Adventures of Augie March
Saul Bellow,
United States, novel
The Long Goodbye
United States, novel
1954
Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis,
England, novel
Lord of the Flies
William Golding,
England, novel
Under the Net
Iris Murdoch,
England, novel
The Mandarins
Simone de Beauvoir,
France, novel
I'm Not Stiller
Max Frisch,
Switzerland, novel
Nectar in a Sieve
Kamala Markandaya,
India, novel
Go Tell It on the Mountain
James Baldwin,
United States, novel
1954–1955
Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien,
England, novel
The Recognitions
William Gaddis,
United States, novel
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Patricia Highsmith,
United States, novel
1956
The Devil to Pay in the Backlands
João Guimarães Rosa,
Brazil, novel
The Temple of the Golden Pavilion
Yukio Mishima,
Japan, novel
Giovanni's Room
James Baldwin,
United States, novel
1957
Voss
Patrick White,
Australia, novel
Justine
Laurence Durrell,
England, novel
From Russia With Love
Ian Fleming,
England, novel
Jealousy
Alain Robbe-Grillet,
France, novel
Pnin
Vladimir Nabokov,
Russia, novel
Doctor Zhivago
Boris Pasternak,
Russia, novel
The Wapshot Chronicle
John Cheever,
United States, novel
Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand,
United States, novel
1958
Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
Jorge Amado,
Brazil, novel
The Guide
R.K. Narayan,
India, novel
The Leopard
Giusseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa,
Italy, novel
Things Fall Apart
Chinua Achebe,
Nigeria, novel
The Once and Future King
T.H. White,
England, novel
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
Alan Sillitoe,
England, novel
1959
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
Mordecai Richler,
Canada, novel
The Golden Notebook
Doris Lessing,
England, novel
Zazie in the Zoo
Raymond Queneau,
France, novel
Billiards at Half Past Nine
Heinrich Böll,
Germany, novel
The Tin Drum
Günter Grass,
Germany, novel
Henderson the Rain King
Saul Bellow,
United States, novel
Naked Lunch
William S. Burroughs,
United States, novel
A Separate Peace
John Knowles,
United States, novel
1960
A Canticle for Leibowitz
Walter M. Miller,
United States, novel
Rabbit, Run
John Updike,
United States, novel
1961
Solaris
Stanislaw Lem,
Poland, novel
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Muriel Spark,
Scotland, novel
A House for Mr Biswas
V.S. Naipaul,
Trinidad, novel
The Moviegoer
Walker Percy,
United States, novel
Franny and Zooey
J.D. Salinger,
United States, novel
Revolutionary Road
Richard Yates,
United States, novel
1962
The Death of Artemio Cruz
Carlos Fuentes,
Mexico, novel
Pale Fire
Vladimir Nabokov,
Russia, novel
A Clockwork Orange
Anthony Burgess,
England, novel
A Wrinkle in Time
Madeleine L'Engle,
United States, novel
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Ken Kesey,
United States, novel
1963
The General of the Dead Army
Ismail Kadare,
Albania, novel
Hopscotch
Julio Cortazar,
Argentina, novel
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
John le Carré,
England, novel
V.
Thomd Pynchon,
United States, novel
Cat's Cradle
Kurt Vonnegut,
United States, novel
The Ravishing of Lol Stein
Marguerite Duras,
France, novel
Arrow of God
Chinua Achebe,
Nigeria, novel
Herzog
Saul Bellow,
United States, novel
Things
Georges Perec,
France, novel
The Magus
John Fowles,
England, novel
Black Sheep
Georgette Heyer,
England, novel
Wide Sargasso Sea
Jean Rhys,
England, novel
Silence
Shūsaku Endō,
Japan, novel
Season of Migration to the North
Tayeb Salih,
Sudan, novel
In Cold Blood
Truman Capote,
United States, nonfiction novel
Flowers for Algernon
Daniel Keyes,
United States, novel
1967
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Joan Lindsay,
Australia, novel
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Gabriel García Márquez,
Colombia, novel
Children of Gebelawi
Naguib Mahfouz,
Egypt, novel
The Third Policeman
Flann O'Brien,
Ireland, novel
The Master and Margarita
Mikhail Bulgakov,
Russia, novel
Babel-17
Samuel R. Delany,
United States, novel
The Outsiders
S.E. Hinton,
United States, novel
The Confessions of Nat Turner
William Styron,
United States, novel
Lord of Light
Roger Zelazny,
United States, novel
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey
Arthur C. Clarke,
England, novel
The German Lesson
Siegfried Lenz,
Germany, novel
The Quest for Christa T.
Christa Wolf,
Germany, novel
Cancer Ward
Alexander Solzhenitsyn,
Russia, novel
The First Circle
Alexander Solzhenitsyn,
Russia, novel
Belle du Seigneur
Albert Cohen,
Switzerland, novel
Stand on Zanzibar
John Brunner,
United States, novel
Myra Breckinridge
Gore Vidal,
United States, novel
1969
Little Painted Mouths
Manuel Puig,
Argentina, novel
Master and Commander
Patrick O'Brian,
England, novel
A Void
Georges Perec,
France, novel
Ada or Ardor
Vladimir Nobokov,
Russia, novel
them
Joyce Carol Oates,
United States, novel
The Godfather
Mario Puzo,
United States, novel
Slaughterhouse Five
Kurt Vonnegut,
United States, novel
1970
Fifth Business
Robertson Davies,
Canada, novel
Troubles
J.G. Farrell,
England, novel
Deliverance
James Dickey,
United States, novel
1971
The Day of the Jackal
Frederick Forsyth,
England, novel
In a Free State
V.S. Naipaul,
Trinidad, novel
The Bell Jar
Sylvia Plath,
United States, novel
Angle of Repose
Wallace Stegner,
United States, novel
Rabbit Redux
John Updike,
United States, novel
1972
Watership Down
Richard Adams,
United States, novel
Rendezvous With Rama
Arthur C. Clarke,
England, novel
The Twilight Years
Sawako Ariyoshi,
Japan, novel
Roadside Picnic
Arkady and Boris Strugatski,
Russia, novel
The Gods Themselves
Isaac Asimov,
United States, novel
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson,
United States, novel
1973
The Siege of Krishnapur
J.G. Farrell,
England, novel
Gravity's Rainbow
Thomas Pynchon,
United States, novel
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
John le Carré,
England, novel
History: A Novel
Elsa Morante,
Italy, novel
The Forever War
Joe Halderman,
United States, novel
Dog Soldiers
Robert Stone,
United States, novel
1975
Correction
Thomas Bernhard,
Austria, novel
The Autumn of the Patriarch
Gabriel García Márquez,
Colombia, novel
W, or the Memory of Childhood
Georges Perec,
France, novel
Humboldt's Gift
Saul Bellow,
United States, novel
Ragtime
E.L. Doctorow,
United States, novel
Interview With the Vampire
Anne Rice,
United States, novel
1976
Bear
Marian Engel,
Canada, novel
1977
Monkey Grip
Helen Garner,
Australia, novel
The Thorn Birds
Colleen McCullough,
Australia, novel
The Hour of the Star
Clarice Lispector,
Brazil, novel
The Wars
Timothy Findley,
Canada, novel
Aunt Julia and the Script-Writer
Mario Vargas Llosa,
Peru, novel
Falconer
John Cheever,
United States, novel
Song of Solomon
Toni Morrison,
United States, novel
Gateway
Frederick Pohl,
United States, novel
The Sea, the Sea
Iris Murdoch,
England, novel
Life a User's Manual
Georges Perecs,
France, novel
Going After Cacciato
Tim O'Brien,
United States, novel
1979
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
England, novel
Smiley's People
John Le Carré,
England, novel
If on a Winter's Night a Traveler
Italo Calvino,
Italy, novel
A Bend in the River
V.S. Naipaul,
Trinidad, novel
Burger's Daughter
Nadine Gordimer,
South Africa, novel
Sophie's Choice
William Styron,
United States, novel
1980
Clear Light of Day
Anita Desai,
India, novel
The Name of the Rose
Umberto Eco,
Italy, novel
So Long a Letter
Miriam Bâ,
Senegal, novel
Waiting for the Barbarians
J.M. Coetzee,
South Africa, novel
Life and Fate
Vasily Grossman,
Ukraine, novel
The Mists of Avalon
Marion Zimmer Bradley,
United States, novel
So Long, See You Tomorrow
William Maxwell,
United States, novel
1981
Obasan
Joy Kogawa,
Canada, novel
Lanark
Alasdair Graye,
Scotland, novel
Midnight's Children
Salman Rushdie,
India, novel
The War of the End of the World
Mario Vargas Llosa,
India, novel
July's People
Nadine Gordimer,
South Africa, novel
Red Dragon
Thomas Harris,
United States, novel
Rabbit Is Rich
John Updike,
United States, novel
1982
Schindler's List
Thomas Keneally,
Australia, novel
The House of the Spirits
Isabel Allende,
Chile, novel
A Wild Sheep Chase
Haruki Murakami,
Japan, novel
The Color Purple
Alice Walker,
United States, novel
1983
Mr Palomar
Italo Calvino,
Italy, novel
The Life and Times of Michael K
J.M. Coetzee,
South Africa, novel
The Christmas Oratorio
Göran Tunström,
Sweden, novel
Startide Rising
David Brin,
United States, novel
LaBrava
Elmore Leonard,
United States, novel
1984
Neuromancer
William Gibson,
Canada, novel
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Milan Kundera,
Czechoslovakia, novel
Money
Martin Amis,
England, novel
Hotel du Lac
Anita Brookner,
England, novel
Bright Lights, Big City
Jay McInerney,
United States, novel
1985
Annie John
Jamaica Kincaid,
Antigua, novel
Half of Man Is Woman
Zhang Xianliang,
China, novel
Love in the Time of Cholera
Gabriel García Márquez,
Colombia, novel
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
Patrick Suskind,
Germany, novel
White Noise
Don DeLillo,
United States, novel
Blood Meridian
Cormac McCarthy,
United States, novel
Lonesome Dove
Larry McMurtry,
United States, novel
The Accidental Tourist
Anne Tyler,
United States, novel
Ender's Game
United States, novel
1986
An Artist of the Floating World
Kazuo Ishiguro,
England, novel
A Dark-Adapted Eye
Barbara Vine,
England, novel
Matigari
Ngugi Wa Thiong'o,
Kenya, novel
1986–1987
Red Sorghum
Mo Yan,
Canada, novel
1987
The Stone Diaries
Carol Shields,
Canada, novel
In the Skin of a Lion
Michael Ondaatje,
Canada, novel
The Radiant Way
Margaret Drabble,
England, novel
Norwegian Wood
Haruki Murakami,
Japan, novel
Misery
Stephen King,
United States, novel
Beloved
Toni Morrison,
United States, novel
The Bonfire of the Vanities
United States, novel
1988
Oscar and Lucinda
Peter Carey,
Australia, novel
The Alchemist
Paulo Coelho,
Brazil, novel
The Shadow Lines
Amitav Ghosh,
India, novel
The Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie,
India, novel
Kitchen
Banana Yoshimoto,
Japan, novel
Obabakoak
Bernard Atxaga,
Spain, novel
The Joy Luck Club
Amy Tan,
United States, novel
Breathing Lessons
Anne Tyler,
United States, novel
Nervous Conditions
Dangarembga Tsitsi,
Zimbabwe, novel
1989
The Remains of the Day
Kazuo Ishiguro,
England, novel
London Fields
Martin Amis,
England, novel
The Pillars of the Earth
Ken Follett,
England, novel
The Great Indian Novel
Shashi Tharoor,
India, novel
Like Water for Chocolate
Laura Esquivel,
Mexico, novel
The Storyteller
Mario Vargas Llosa,
Peru, novel
1990
Possession
A.S. Byatt,
England, novel
Vertigo
W.G. Sebald,
Germany, novel
Amongst Women
John MacGahern,
Ireland, novel
The Eye of the World
Robert Jordan,
United States, novel
Get Shorty
Elmore Leonard,
United States, novel
1991
Cloudstreet
Tim Winton,
Australia, novel
1991
Generation X
Douglas Coupland,
Canada, novel
Wild Swans
Jung Chang,
China, nonfiction novel
The Famished Road
Ben Okri,
Nigeeria, novel
The Book of Disquiet
Fernando Pessoa,
Portugal, novel
Mating
Norman Rush,
United States, novel
The Kitchen God's Wife
Amy Tan,
United States, novel
1992
The English Patient
Michael Ondaatje,
Canada, novel
Smilla's Sense of Snow
Peter Høeg,
Denmark, novel
The Emigrants
W.G. Sebald,
Germany, novel
The Butcher Boy
Patrick McCabe,
Ireland, novel
The Triple Mirror of the Self
Zulfikar Ghose,
Pakistan, novel
The Crow Road
Iain Banks,
Scotland, novel
All the Pretty Horses
Cormac McCarthy,
United States, novel
1993
Remembering Babylon
David Malouf,
Australia, novel
Green Grass, Running Water
Thomas King,
Canada, novel
To Live
Yu Hua,
China, novel
Birdsong
Sebastian Faulks,
England, novel
A Suitable Boy
Vikram Seth,
India, novel
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Roddy Doyle,
Ireland, novel
The Life of Insects
Victor Pelevin,
Russia, novel
The Shipping News
Annie Proulx,
United States, novel
1994
Of Love and Shadows
Isabel Allende,
Chile, novel
Captain Corelli's Mandolin
Louis de Bernieres,
England, novel
How Late It Was, How Late
James Kelman
Scotland, novel
1994–1995
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Haruki Murakami,
Canada, novel
1995
A Fine Balance
Rohinton Mistry,
Canada, novel
Northern Lights
Philip Pullman,
England, novel
The Reader
Bernhard Schlink,
Germany, novel
Fall on Your Knees
Ann-Marie MacDonald,
Canada, novel
Fugitive Pieces
Anne Michaels,
Canada, novel
Chapayev and Pustota
Victor Pelevin,
Russia, novel
A Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin,
United States, novel
Infinite Jest
David Foster Wallace,
United States, novel
1997
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
J.K. Rowling,
England, novel
The God of Small Things
Arundhati Roy,
India, novel
Memoirs of a Geisha
Arthur Golden,
United States, novel
Underworld
Don DeLillo,
United States, novel
Cold Mountain
Charles Frazier,
United States, novel
Mason and Dixon
Thomas Pynchon,
United States, novel
Charming Billy
Alice McDermott,
United States, novel
1998
The Colony of Unrequited Dreams
Wayne Johnston,
Canada, novel
The Savage Detectives
Roberto Bolaño,
Chile, novel
Amsterdam
Ian McEwan,
England, novel
The Elementary Particles
Michel Houellbecq,
France, novel
My Name Is Red
Orhan Pamuk,
Turkey, novel
The Hours
Michael Cunningham,
United States, novel
The Poisonwood Bible
Barbara Kingsolver,
United States, novel
1999
No Great Mischief
Alistair MacLeod,
Canada, novel
The Life and Times of Michael K
J.M. Coetzee,
South Africa, novel
Waiting
Ha Jin,
United States, novel
2000
True History of the Kelly Gang
Peter Carey,
Australia, novel
White Teeth
Zadie Smith,
England, novel
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamtress
Dai Sijie,
France, novel
The Feast of the Goat
Mario Vargas Llosa,
Peru, novel
Bartleby and Co
Enrique Vila-Matas,
Peru, novel
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay
Michael Chabon,
United States, novel
2000–2001
Persepolis
Marjane Satrapi,
Iran, graphic novel
American Gods
Neil Gaiman,
England, novel
The Other Boleyn Girl
Philippa Gregory,
England, novel
Austerlitz
W.G. Sebald,
Germany, novel
The Corrections
Jonathan Franzen,
United States, novel
2002
Life of Pi
Yann Martel,
Canada, novel
City of the Beasts
Isabel Allende,
Chile, novel
Middlesex
Jeffrey Eugenides,
United States, novel
Fingersmith
Sarah Waters,
Wales, novel
2003
The Great Fire
Shirley Hazzard,
Australia, novel
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Mark Haddon,
England, novel
The Housekeeper and the Professor
Yoko Ogawa,
Japan, novel
The Kite Runner
Khaled Hosseini,
United States, novel
The Known World
Edward P. Jones,
United States, novel
The Time Traveler's Wife
Audrey Niffenegger,
United States, novel
Vernon God Little
DBC Pierre,
United States, novel
2004
A Complicated Kindness
Mariam Toews,
Canada, novel
2666
Roberto Bolaño,
Chile, novel
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Susanna Clarke,
England, novel
The Line of Beauty
Michael Hollinghurst,
England, novel
Cloud Atlas
David Mitchell,
England, novel
The Master
Colm Tóibín,
Ireland, novel
The News From Paraguay
Lily Tuck,
United States, novel
2005
March
Geraldine Brooks,
Australia, novel
The Book Thief
Markus Zusak,
Australia, novel
Three Day Road
Jospeh Boyden,
Canada, novel
Never Let Me Go
Kazuo Ishiguro,
England, novel
Measuring the World
Daniel Kehlmann,
Germany, novel
The Sea
John Banville,
Ireland, novel
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
Lisa See,
United States, novel
2006
The Elegance of the Hedgehog
Muriel Barbery,
France, novel
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
John Boyne,
Ireland, novel
Half of a Yellow Sun
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
Nigeria, novel
What Is the What
Dave Eggers,
United States, nonfiction novel
The Road
Cormac McCarthy,
United States, novel
2007
Late Nights on Air
Elizabeth Hay,
Canada, novel
The Book of Negroes
Lawrence Hill,
Canada, novel
Tree of Smoke
Denis Johnson,
England, novel
The Gathering
Anne Enright,
Ireland, novel
The Great Man
Kate Christenson,
United States, novel
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
Junot Díaz,
United States, novel
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Khaled Hosseini,
United States, novel
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss,
United States, novel
2008
The Three-Body Problem
Liu Cixin,
China, novel
White Tiger
Aravind Adiga,
India, novel
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins,
United States, novel
2009
February
Lisa Moore,
Canada, novel
Shanghai Girls
Lisa See,
United States, novel
Wolf Hall
Hilary Mantel,
England, novel
Brooklyn
Colm Tóibín,
Ireland, novel
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Olga Tkarchuk,
Poland, novel
The Magicians
Lev Grossman,
United States, novel
Let the Great World Spin
Colum McCann,
United States, novel
2009–2010
IQ84
Haruki Murakami,
England, novel
2010
Room
Kathleen Winter,
Canada, novel
Annabel
Kathleen Winter,
Canada, novel
A Visit From the Goon Squad
Jennifer Egan,
United States, novel
2011
The Sisters Brothers
Patrick DeWitt,
Canada, novel
Half-Blood Blues
Esi Edugyan,
Canada, novel
My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante,
Italy, novel
2012
Gone Girl
Gillian Flynn,
United States, novel
2013
The Luminaries
Eleanor Catton,
New Zealand, novel
Americanah
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie,
Nigeria, novel
2014
A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James,
Jamaica, novel
All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr,
United States, novel
2015
The Sellout
Paul Beatty,
United States, novel
The Fifth Season
N.K. Jemisin,
United States, novel
2016
Days Without End
Sebastian Barry,
Ireland, novel
The Underground Railroad
Colson Whitehead,
United States, novel
2017
The Changeling
Victor LaValle,
United States, novel
Lincoln in the Bardo
George Saunders,
United States, novel
Sing, Unburied, Sing
Jesmyn Ward,
United States, novel
2018
Normal People
Sally Rooney,
Ireland, novel
Milkman
Anna Burns,
Northern Ireland, novel
